Five Feet Apart

Hello, Clara here. This past month, I read Five Feet Apart, written by Rachael Lippincott. Five Feet Apart follows the relationship of two cystic fibrosis patients who fall in love but have to remain separated. Due to cystic fibrosis leaving their lungs severely compromised, all patients must stay at least 6 feet away from each other to prevent contracting each other's bacterial infections and dying. The two of them approach their condition and how it affects their life in very different ways. Stella Grant follows every rule put in place for her in order to maximize her chance of her survival, and she even designs a phone app to keep her schedule and medications organized. Will Newman, on the other hand, views his death as inevitable, and wants to live his life like a normal teenager. Despite their contrasting personalities and initial hostility towards each other, they slowly fall in love. As they get closer, the rule of staying 6 feet apart becomes harder and harder to follow.

A major theme of 5 Feet Apart is love and friendship, and how much one should risk in their life for it. Stella begins to realize the importance of love in her life, whether it be familial love (Stella and her older sister), romantic love (Stella and Will), or the love of a friend (Stella and Poe, a fellow cystic fibrosis patient). Another predominant theme in the story is life and death, as all the main characters are constantly in peril. They each have a mortal illness, and their lives constantly hang in balance because of it. After Stella experiences the death of some of the loved ones around her, she struggles to decide if love or surviving is more important to her. 

The last overarching theme in Five Feet Apart is rebellion. While their lives are at stake, the characters are forced to follow guidelines and barriers that limit their interaction and contact with each other in order to preserve their life. As the novel progresses, Stella, Poe and Will decide that a meaningful and eventful life is more important than an extended one, causing them to rebel against their guidelines. However, their risky actions come with consequences and imperil the characters in increasingly worse ways as they push the boundaries of their safety.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Five Feet Apart. The story is gripping, and it definitely tugs at the heart strings. The relationship between Stella and Will is well developed, and it left me conflicted, as I was rooting for Stella and Will to be together, but I also wanted them to stay alive. My only major issue with the story was its predictable plot that almost seemed to be directly lifted from The Fault in Our Stars, another novel about two severely ill teens falling in love.